158 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
instances, however, of the young of the walrus being brought 
to Europe alive. Thus it is said (Purchas, iii., p. 560), that 
Master Welden and Stephen Bennet, on the July, 1608, 
caught two young walruses alive, one a male and the other 
a female. The female died before they reached England, but 
the male lived ten weeks. He was carried to court, shown 
to the king and many honourable gentlemen, and excited 
general admiration for his extraordinary form and great docility. 
A young walrus that was taken to St. Petersburg in 1829-80, 
also died in a short time. It gave occasion to K. E. von Baek’s 
famous treatise: ''Anatomische und zoologische Untersuch- 
ungen iiber das Wallross,” printed in M^moires de VAcadSmie 
ImpSriale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, ser. vi., t. iv. 2, 1838, 
p. 97. 
The walrus is hunted for its skin, blubber, and oil. The 
value of a full-grown walrus was calculated at Tromsoe, in 
1868, in settling accounts between the owners of hunting 
sloops and the hunters, at eighty Scandinavian crowns (say 
U. 10s.), but it sank in 1871 to only forty-eight crowns (say 
21. 15s.). The flesh of the walrus is coarse and train-flavoured, 
and is eaten by the hunters only in cases of necessity. From 
my own experience, however, I can certify that its compara¬ 
tively small tongue is very delicious. By the Eskimo and the 
Chukchis the flesh of the walrus is considered a delicacy. 
The walrus was doubtless hunted by the Polar tribes long 
before the historic period,^ but it is mentioned for the first time 
in writing in the sketch of Othere’s Arctic journey. The 
narrative shows that it was then captured on the north coast of 
Scandinavia. This appears the less improbable, as a walrus now 
and then even in our days drifts to land on the Norwegian coast, 
and walruses are still annually killed off Swjatoinos on the 
Kola peninsula.^ The walrus is very correctly described in the 
^ Implements of walrus-bone occur among the Northern g’rave Jinds. 
^ Compare note at page 48 above. 
